Benchmarking Unstructured Community Service Against the National SULAM Framework: A Case Study of Soft Skill Deficiencies in Private Higher Education

Service Learning (SL) is widely implemented across Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to foster personal growth, civic learning, and academic enhancement. While Public Universities utilize the structured SULAM (Service-Learning Malaysia – University for Society) framework mandated by the Ministry of Higher Education, many private institutions and teacher training institutes continue to implement unstructured community service focused primarily on volunteerism. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of non-SULAM service-learning courses by using the national SULAM framework as a diagnostic tool to identify behavioural and operational gaps in student performance. This research uses a qualitative case study design with seven teams (N=70) to explore ‘in-situ’ process skills: specifically, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. Process data are triangulated using field observation notes, data ethnography of electronic communication via WhatsApp, email, and telecommunication data. Analysis for this research finds that failure typically occurs in three forms: (i) issues with management visibility and upward management issues irrespective of physical accomplishment, (ii) logical problems with operational processes and a lack of empathy in conditions of adaptability and dynamic constraint requirements, and (iii) a phenomenon of solidarity with experiences of disruption and/or sustaining teamwork based on degree of role awareness and visibility. The findings suggest that without the structured guidance of the SULAM framework specifically the Analysing and Manifestation phases students in private HEIs may treat community service as manual labour rather than a pedagogical experience. This validates the need to expand the SULAM framework beyond public universities to ensure all graduates achieve the intended soft skill outcomes. This paper contributes to the literature by moving beyond the implementation studies of public universities to provide a comparative diagnostic of the "non-SULAM" landscape. It highlights the specific behavioural risks of unstructured volunteerism, arguing for the necessity of process-based assessment rubrics.